Our First Few Days in Chicago

19 November 2008

Well we finally landed in Chicago on Saturday after an 8 hour transatlantic flight. Once we were through customs & immigration we hauled our five suitcases (!) out into the cold — welcome to Chicago! Ben & Mandy kindly borrowed a friend’s Jeep to come and pick us up and we did a great job of filling it with luggage. A short drive to their apartment just off Diversey and there we were — proper Chicago-ians!

The hunt for an apartment began in earnest on Sunday where we had an appointment at the Left Bank at Kinzie apartment block. Sap had been looking at these apartments for weeks and we were all very excited to see them. We had a look around and fell in love with it — I was all ready to book it there and then but Sap and Mandy tempered my enthusiasm saying we should look at some more.

So Sap booked some appointments for Monday whilst I went to my new workplace and met my new colleagues — more on that later. Sap did find some really nice apartments with fantastic views — the one below was a lovely apartment that offered a view of the Hancock Tower out of one window and Sears out of the other!

We ultimately decided against this apartment as it was around $200 per month more than Left Bank and it had a landlord — as opposed to a leasing agent. That would mean we’d need to deal directly with the landlord if anything happened (leaky taps, broken refrigerator etc.) which we were slightly uncomfortable with. So we decided to go with our first love and arrange to live in an apartment in the Left Bank complex.

We went along yesterday lunchtime and signed all the paperwork — once the apartment’s been vacated, cleaned & painted we’re in! We can’t wait.

This photo shows us in front of our new home. It’s on the 35th floor and promises to offer stunning views across the city & river. Even better is that it’s only a 5 minute walk from my office! Speaking of which….

John Gets A Spanky New Desk

I arrived for my first day in the US office very excited — I knew Bill but hadn’t met any of the other members of Team America. I was made to feel very welcome and we went out for a celebratory burger at lunch — it was awesome.

I have a massive desk and am struggling to fill it! My new Apple keyboard and mouse should be here today and I’ll likely go get a Cinema Display as well. Then I’ll be set! The best thing though? A free Starbucks machine. It’s so good I had to go get a mug capable of holding all that lovely free caffeine!

So our first few days in Chicago have been very exciting — a new home, new desk and a new coat (for me). Although that’s going back to the shop as it creates too much static electricity each time I put it on! But man is it warm!

We’re looking forward to moving into our new home and furnishing it — the post-Thanksgiving sales start next Friday so we’re going to go armed and ready!

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My name is John, I’m an interface designer and these are my personal ramblings. I write about a bunch of things on here, share photos of my life on Instagram and spout spurious snippets on Twitter. If you’re looking for something a bit more professional, try my LinkedIn profile.